So why does Rick Perry have a Glenn Beck problem? Because in flying in tandem so far to the right, Beck has helped to take an unremarkably conservative Texas governor who might once have had a story to tell (albeit a misleading one) on the real issue in America, which is jobs, and render him all but unelectable in a general election. Yes, it's true that hitching his star to Beck and extreme right-wing views on the Fed, the 10th Amendment and the Fed that have been incubated in the toxic labs of talk radio helped Perry win re-election and could well carry him to the 2012 nomination. But Perry is going to have a lot of explaining to do when moderate voters emerge from their political cocoon in about 13 months or so. If Obama becomes the first president to win re-election with 9 percent employment, he might actually want to thank Glenn Beck!
Meanwhile, here's something disturbing to ponder. Beck's extreme act eventually caused his TV ratings to nose-dive and led even the conservatives like Roger Ailes who run Fox News to yank him off the air before his contract expired. Yet in mimicking Beck, Rick Perry has soared to the top of the political charts, at least the right half of them. Even America's news media makes more sense than our politics these days.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
